Week 13 Reading: English Tales Part A

 For the first part of the English Tales section, I am taking notes on the story Binnorie.

Illustration by John D. Batten (1890)

Plot

    Two princesses live near the bonny milldams of Binnorie. A man comes along and woos the elder sister. However, he eventually falls for the younger sister and leaves the eldest for her. Dramaaaa. The eldest sister blames her and hates her for it.
    One day, the eldest suggests that they go down to the millstream and watch their father's boats. When they get there the eldest sister pushes the younger one into the water. The younger sister begs for help. The eldest sister denies her help because she hates her and anything she could be given in return would be hers if her sister died anyway.
    The younger sister drowns. A miller and his daughter pull her body out of the water after the daughter saw her floating. A harper walks by and notices the beautiful woman. One day, he comes back and makes a harp from her breastbones and her hair and went to the castle.
    He performed for the king and his court. When he put his new harp on a stone in the hall, the harp sang. The court wondered why and he explained where the harp came from. Then, the harp sings again and tells the court that her sister killed her. The harp breaks. 

Characters

As usual with these short tales, there isn't a lot in terms of character. The elder sister is the pure jealousy and evil being. The younger sister is the innocent beautiful one. Although, she's not that innocent because she had to know that there would be problems if she got with Sir William. The harper is mildly interesting. I'm not quite sure if he knew what he was doing or not. The intention with which he went to the castle after making the harp makes me think he did.

Bibliography. Binnorie from English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs (1890)

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